The commentary addresses a
dysfunctional aspect of American government, the so-called "filibuster" in the
Senate -- which as noted below, is a myth.
Today, it bedevils the Republican majority; in the past, Democrats
and progressives have complained and will again when they're back in the
majority. The issue is ripe for
resolution from any political standpoint.

It's the Cloture,
Stupid! Bring Back the Filibuster to Restore 'Power of the Purse'

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The
chaos surrounding selection of a replacement for House Speaker John Boehner is
a symptom of the ongoing civil war tearing the GOP apart.

On
the one side, we have Tea Partiers and other conservatives who want Republicans
to play hardball with the Obama administration and use Congress's "power of the
purse" to defund Obamacare, Planned Parenthood, amnesty via Executive Order,
and other outrages. On the other, there
is the establishment (of which Boehner is a symbol), who advise caution -- in
effect, capitulation -- in the face of "reality": the MSM will blame any
government shutdown on the GOP-ruled Congress, so let's avoid damage that could
lessen chances of putting a Republican in the White House in January 2017.

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Republicans
would have a far better chance of winning the budget blame game if they would
send funding bill after funding bill, minus the targeted items, to Barack
Obama's desk and force him to veto them.
Sure, the media would still blame the GOP, but at some point it would start
to dawn on the American people that Congress is sending Obama money for 99.99
percent of the government's operations and he
is the one forcing a shutdown over the 00.01 percent he imperiously demands.

That
hasn't happened, though. In fact, during
his tenure Obama has cast only four
vetoes, far fewer than any recent president.
(Counting pocket vetoes, George W. Bush cast 12, Clinton 37, George Bush
the Elder 44 (in just one term), Ronald Reagan 78. FDR still holds the record with a whopping
635!) Failure of the Republican Congress
to dump spending bills in Obama's lap continues to give him a free ride while
degrading the GOP brand and spurring Republicans' intra-party bloodletting.

Observers
of this failure often blame the "Democratic filibuster" in the Senate for
blocking House-passed legislation. (A Google News search of "Democratic
filibuster" yields over a thousand hits.)
Some deride Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for failing to apply the "nuclear
option" used
in 2013 on Executive nominations by his Democratic predecessor,
Harry Reid. It's a step Republicans are
loath to take in anticipation of the day they are back in the minority.

But
the fact is, there is no Democratic
filibuster in the Senate. The filibuster in its classic form -- a tag-team
of minority-party Senators inveighing at length on the floor to delay a vote
they are sure to lose -- hasn't existed for decades. (The commendable
filibuster-like speeches by GOP Senators Rand
Paul
and Ted
Cruz
in 2013 were essentially dramatizations.)
Today, the proximate obstacle to getting legislation through the Senate
with a simple majority of 51 votes is cloture,
specifically Senate
Rule XXII, which provides for limiting debate following a
vote of three-fifths of Senators present. Ironically intended as a means to streamline
Senate business, in practice Rule XXII means not much can get done without a
60-vote super-majority.

The
cloture rule enables a lazy man's filibuster.
It allows a minority (today, the Democrats) of 41 Senators to
"filibuster" a bill -- including spending bills that ax funds for Obamacare,
Planned Parenthood, etc. -- from the comfort of their offices or fundraising
receptions. They don't have to haul their
carcasses down to the Senate floor and speechify as long as their feet and
bladders can hold out before they eventually have to fold and a simple majority
vote proceeds.

Let's
stop making it easy for them. The Senate
should revoke Rule XXII and go back to the archetypal filibuster that generally
existed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Set up the cots in rooms abutting the Senate
chamber, empty the spittoons,
send out the Sergeant-at-Arms to round up stragglers! It's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
on live TV! Especially with C-SPAN
coverage, let's see how much time Democrats want to burn defending Obama's
enormities in front of the nation -- and then make 'em vote, up-or-down.

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A
return to the old-timey real-life filibuster would be magnificent political
theater and valuable public education on the issues. It would also respect the World's
Greatest Deliberative Body's tradition of affording the
minority their right of unlimited debate while allowing for an eventual
majoritarian vote to proceed. Best of
all, it would provide a much better chance of throwing the dead cat of the
spending issue on Barack Obama's desk, where it belongs.

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